


Tales of the Terrifically Horrific

by johanna_the_nerd



Category: Original Work
Genre: F/M, Gothic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-10
Updated: 2019-01-10
Packaged: 2019-10-07 23:07:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,163
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17374949
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/johanna_the_nerd/pseuds/johanna_the_nerd
Summary: this is a collection of short stories which emulate the gothic style.





	Tales of the Terrifically Horrific

**Author's Note:**

> In the first, we dive into the world of Ferdinand, whose obsession, madness and genius are his eventual demise as he attempts to reanimate a dead body. In the second story, we follow Astrid through her pitiful life and death, and the great revenge that she takes on her husband once she returns from the dead, only to become incessantly greedy for blood, which leads to her own destruction

Ferdinand had always been curious, but a nervous, timid boy. During his lonely childhood in the Alps of Switzerland, Ferdinand spent many days reading in his from while furious storms raged on outside his home. Ferdinand had previously lived a rather isolated life, with only his mother and father as company. With little to do, and the only occasional visit from family friends Ferdinand spent most of his childhood reading. One aspect of the literature he read that he found particularly interesting was the natural philosophy. The ideas and concepts that Ferdinand found in these books were simply fascinating to him. However, one distinct event in his boyhood would incite his interest in natural philosophy like nothing else had before. It was a terribly cold winter, where it seemed that the skies would darken earlier than ever before, and the winds howled as if they themselves were in agony from the blistering cold. Few dared to brave the freezing cold, and those who did were not faced with a merciful end. One man, trying to hike back home to his cabin high up in the mountains was later on engulfed by a raving avalanche, the man, in spite of the raw wrath of nature did not die immediately. It took little time for the people in the village to notice this mans absence and they feared he would not survive his hike home. The group of men ran up the hills and hillocks over the town nestled in between the mountains to get to the man who they feared has already been claimed by death. Yet the man had not yet ceased to live, and when they found him, buried in a fluffy coffin of ice and snow. After slowly digging him out, Ferdinand observed as the men alternated between pounding at his chest and breathing air into his mouth. It took time, but then the man took a gasping breath of his own. He was alive. This event would go on to haunt Ferdinand for the rest of his life. The Man, was once he was found, seemingly dead, but then all of the sudden thanks to the method of reanimation by the men he was alive again. Young Ferdinand was utterly excited by the prospect that someone could come back from the dead through the mere power of man. After the event with the man in the mountains being resuscitated again, Ferdinand’s curiosity was set ablaze, he gained a thirst for knowledge that could no longer be quenched by the books he read with his tutors or at home. It was an innate craving inside of him that grew with every passing day into a seething monster that was insatiable. Ferdinand decided that the only way to sate his newfound hunger for knowledge was to go to university. Ferdinand was hesitant to leave his family but knew that for him it was absolutely necessary. Many times did Ferdinand doubt his decision to leave the comfort and protection of his home but ultimately decided to leave. Ferdinand then, one cold spring morning bid his parents' goodbye and boarded the train to the University of Basel, where he was going to study natural philosophy. Once he arrived in Basel he had little to do but throw himself into his studies, taking even more interest into the natural philosophy, and more specifically how the human body operated. He was reminded of the incident in the Alps, with the man that had miraculously survived being buried by the avalanche. Questions were racing through his mind, did the man die? If he did, how did he come back, how much time did it take for him to come back? Did people always come back from the dead, and what determined that? He became mad with the obsession, neglecting all of his other responsibilities, eating and sleeping only when he absolutely needed to. Eventually, he reached a point where simply learning about natural philosophy was no longer enough, he had to actually try reanimation out. Ferdinand thought about the method of his plan for quite a long time, where would he get the body from, the University did, as part of their studies, offer the study of human anatomy, which meant that there were regularly a few bodies stored for dissection in the lower levels of the Natural Philosophy department. It had to be done under the guise of the dark, so Ferdinand had crouched under the wildly growing shrub and trees that disguised him from the curious eyes of students working late at night. Although seeing the building, with all his chances so close, the possibility of success so near tempted him, Ferdinand remained in between the bushes and trees, pine needles uncomfortably lodged into his clothes. It was long past midnight when the last students had trickled out of the building that Ferdinand dared to, slowly, stealthily make his way into the depths of the building, doors creaking and the old wooden floor moaning and whining at the sudden movement. Ferdinand heads jerked. There was a slight, barely existing whining noise coming from the depths of the cellar. Hesitantly, in spite of the noise, Ferdinand continued his way into the brisk, dark cellar. The cellar was rather typical for the one of a university, it was terribly cold, which was necessary for the bodies shan’t decay all too quickly. Now, it was time to finally proceed with the plan. There were several bodies splayed out onto different gurneys. Ferdinand knew that there was little time but still decided to think which body could be used most effectively. There was a small child, which could not have been used at all. The other body was the one of a young man, which would be much more promising to reanimation than the child. With little else to do in the cellar, Ferdinand took the body and left swiftly. Once he had safely made his return to the humble dormitory he was almost raving mad. It took so much of him to stay somewhat placid and he knew that he could not possibly act impulsively. By now, it was the early hours of the morning, dawn about to break but instead of resting and going to sleep Ferdinand could not contain his eagerness to start. It was a long and arduous process but alas Ferdinand had succeeded where others had failed. It was finally time, his exhaustion was apparent, and rest so tempting but the prospect of finishing the project was even more so exciting. The corpse, once more alike to a human had become monstrous. There was a buzz of electricity in the air and the monstrous humanoid groaned, unused to working limbs and a mobile body and yet it heaved itself off the creaking wooden table it had laid on since its departure from the university. Ferdinand shrieked in fear, clambered around the messy room, desperate to just get away from the horror that he had created. The creature took one, hesitant but thundering step towards Ferdinand, and that was when he could no longer stand being close to his monster. Ferdinand stumbled down the stairs, trembling hands scrambling to open the locked front door. Ferdinand has never run this fast in his life, trying to get to the train station in such a haste, he did not bother to tell anyone, none of his professors, or notify his parents that he would be returning now, and never going back to study in Basel.

 

Once he frantically boarded the train, Ferdinand had expected to turn his head and see the city of Basel rapidly disappearing in the distance, but what he saw, was much more insidious than that. It was the monster, its heavy limbs had still carried it to the train and despite its body barely functioning, his movements jerky and unnatural he was still following Ferdinand into the Alps. The fear that he was crippling, what had he done, this monster that he had awakened. Ferdinand decided that it would be best to keep himself as hidden as possible. He crouched between the wooden seats of the train compartment, in a similar fashion to how he did when he got the body from the university. Ferdinand did not dare to look out of the window for the rest of the journey, back into the depths of the Alps, where the gentle to and fro rocking of the train calmed his tremulous thoughts. The precarious illusion of peace that he had built for himself was quickly shattered when the train came to a halt. Ferdinand stepped out of the train, and there it was, amongst a crowd of people, raging and wreaking havoc at anything that was close by. Instead of confronting the beast, as he probably should have, Ferdinand fled the station, running as fast as his legs could carry him. Through the town that still lived in the valley between the mountains, high up into the mountains where nestled into the alps was his parents' house. Panicked, Ferdinand frantically knocked on the weathered wooden door of the house, hoping that his parents would open the door before the monster would come close to his childhood home. He could hear it, its raging roar as it swung through the alps. Regret and disappointment coursed through Ferdinand. How foolish he had been! Meddling with the precarious balance between life and death which should not be meddled with. His parents opened the door, his mother exclaiming “oh Ferdinand! Whatever is the matter?” Ferdinand was in such a frenzy, he could barely speak, stumbling, stuttering over his words. “ th-the m-mm Monster!” he shouted, still trembling in fear. His parents stood, still at the entrance of the house, bemused, if not slightly alarmed at his son. It didn’t take much time until they heard another banging on the door, this one, however, was less frantic, as if the monster could be patient, knowing that what was about to happen was an inevitability. Ferdinand, with his parents, cowered in fear. The monster, growing tired of the foolish, cowardly family, swung his fist right through the wooden door, splinters of the weathered wood flying through the room. The monster carelessly threw the rest of the door and roared in rage. This is the first time since its awakening that Ferdinand dared to look at it. Its visage was grotesque, so inhumane. The skin had faded from its deathly pallor to a rotting coal black, with parts of dead skin flaking on its face. The rest of its body, which had become eerily humanoid, was equally freakish, with limbs that looked mismatched, and a torso that had a gaping hole right through its stomach, a string of its intestines dangling out of it. Ferdinand, at this point, had already given up hope that evening would not result in his own demise. The monster continued to wreak havoc on the home, destroying anything that came in front of him. It did seem, however, that it was particularly intent on avenging his existence, and it dragged one putridly bloated limb across the floor. Ferdinand and his parents were during this time, cowering behind different parts of furniture. The first person that the monster seized was his mother. His sweet, caring mother, struggling in between the hands of the monster, as one massive, yet disgusting hand gripped her delicate throat, she gasped for air, wheezing. Ferdinand did not know when she ceased to breathe, but when she did, the monster threw her to the floor like a forgotten ragdoll. Ferdinand was mad with grief. He could barely believe what he was seeing, it felt ridiculous, surreal, like something from a fevered dream. Before Ferdinand could fully understand what had occurred, the monster had moved onto its next victim, his father. His beloved father, that so many years ago, had warned him of his foolish deeds “my dear boy, there are things that must not be tampered with, like the boundaries between life and death.” Now his father, that had raised him with such care was being seized by the monster, right in front of him. Similar to his wife, the father died with the monster's fingers wrapped around his throat. The man, however, did not struggle as much as his wife did, seemingly having already resigned to his fate. Choking on his own breath, the man wheezed out his last breath before surrendering to death. When Ferdinand comprehended that his family, his precious family, had died there was not much left for him to do. His heart was heavy with regret and grief, and he knew that he could no longer delay what was about to come. In comparison to his parents' death he knew, his would be more torturous. As one hand gripped his throat, another snaked its way into his hair, where it was violently jerked to the side, and after a harrowing stinging pain in his neck, Ferdinand knew no more.


End file.
